Last
Friday night in Finney Chapel the Oberlin College Choir, directed
by Dr. Hugh Ferguson Floyd, presented a concert of sacred and secular
songs, including two Psalm settings, two English folk songs, three
songs by Debussy, and a work for organ and choir. The performance
drew a large audience, many of whom probably also attended the Oberlin
College Choir’s wildly-successful first performance of the
year in “Songs for the Journey: A Festival of Hymns,”
which was performed to a standing-room-only audience and may be
syndicated for national broadcast. Though this concert was smaller
in scope than the first concert, the audience was still treated
to a fine performance of enjoyable choral music.
In grand choral tradition the first three pieces on the concert
were all sacred pieces. The first piece, “God is Gone Up,”
for organ and chorus, was based on Biblical texts and incorporated
lines from the Psalms. The organ accompaniment, provided by Timothy
Spelbring, was tasteful and highly appropriate to the robust piece.
The vocalists sang energetically and jubilantly, and the unison
passages were particularly well-rehearsed.
The next two pieces were Psalms set to music by Charles Ives and
Georg Schumann, respectively. Ives’s setting of the Sixty-Seventh
Psalm was tonally innovative in its use of polytonality; two different
keys were being used simultaneously, with the men’s parts
beginning in G minor and the women’s parts beginning in C
major.
The choir seemed determined to make this work; though it began somewhat
tenuously, a bit into the piece it really settled in and was quite
impressive.
“Das is ein köstliches Ding (This is a precious thing),”
the Schumann setting of Psalm 92, was technically secure and artistically
enjoyable. Dynamic contrasts were prominent in this piece and the
general tone production was high quality, especially in the softer
passages.
Next on the program was Claude Debussy’s “Trois Chansons
de Charles d’Orléans (Three Songs of Charles of Orleans).”
As tenor Timothy Spelbring said, “They are influential works
in the choral repertory and quite fufilling to sing. Indeed, they
have all of the panache that one would expect from a French composer
such as Debussy.”
The first of these songs, “Dieu! qu’il la fait bon regarder
(Lord, you made her lovely to gaze upon),” was sung tenderly
and elegantly. The second song, “Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin
(When I hear the little drum),” was the song of a maiden who
would rather stay in bed and think of her lover than go to the May
Day celebration that she hears outside. This song featured soloist
Elizabeth De Shong, a senior voice major; she sang the part admirably
and with remarkable maturity. The rest of the choir accompanied
her, imitating the sound of the “little drum” and the
laughter and singing of the May Day revelers. The final song from
Debussy was the stormy “Hiver, vous n’etes qu’un
villain (Winter, you are a scoundrel),” for a vocal quartet
and accompanying chorus.

The quartet, comprised of senior Teresa Wakim, first-year Katherine
Lerner, senior David Kurtenbach and sophomore Jonathan Green, sang
well together; they were not simply four soloists singing together,
but were a unified quartet working together toward the same musical
goals. The choir accompanied unobtrusively, allowing the quartet
to shine.
The next two pieces were both arrangements of English folk songs.
The first, “My Sweetheart’s Like Venus,” arranged
by Gustav Holst, is the song of a man telling of the beauty and
unfaithfulness of his lover. It was simply sung, and the third stanza
was texturally rich.
The final piece on the program, “The Sailor and Young Nancy,”
arranged by E.J. Moeran, was sung cleverly and pleasantly with a
true “folksy” flavor. The various sections of the choir
traded the melodic line back and forth with great fluidity, keeping
the piece moving right along despite the changing tone colors.
The audience was very appreciative of the fine performance, and
was receptive when the conductor offered an encore performance of
“My Sweetheart’s Like Venus.” The choir then performed
once more Holst’s arrangement of the tune, creating a lush,
yet refined sound.
The Oberlin College Choir turned in a fine performance; Dr. Floyd,
the conductor, addressed the audience several times to explain the
musical significance of each piece and made the concert educational
as well as enjoyable.

Though short, this concert was a satisfying introduction to several
rarely heard pieces and, overall, an enjoyable and educational performance
of choral music. In the end, as alto Elizabeth De Shong said, “If
the audience is pleased, then we have done our job!”